Children have chosen ‘anxiety’ as their word of the year for 2021, according…
2021
Children have chosen ‘anxiety’ as their word of the year for 2021, according to new research from Oxford University Press (OUP). What was the 2020 Oxford Children’s Word of the Year?
- A.
Well-being
- B.
Isolation
- C.
Coronavirus
- D.
Pandemic
- E.
Mental Health
Attempted by 1 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Concept: The Oxford Children's Word of the Year is an annual word identified by Oxford University Press from the children's stories submitted to BBC Radio 2's '500 Words' writing competition. The word is the one that shows the most striking rise in use that year, so it acts as a mirror of what is dominating children's awareness and the wider news cycle at that time.
Application: For 2020, the OUP analysis of the entries found a sharp first-time surge in pandemic-related vocabulary. The single word that stood out the most was 'coronavirus', which appeared hundreds of times across the children's stories even though the competition closed in late February 2020, before the UK's first lockdown. On that basis OUP named 'coronavirus' the 2020 Oxford Children's Word of the Year.
2016 - refugee; 2017 - Trump; 2018 - plastic; 2019 - Brexit; 2020 - coronavirus.
The stem itself notes that the 2021 word was 'anxiety', a later year, which is consistent with the year-by-year progression.
Cross-check: The word fits the defining test of the award - the term with the most striking jump in frequency that year - and matches the year-on-year sequence, so 'coronavirus' is the correct 2020 word.